7/14/2009

Every Tuesday morning, I take a walk with NakedJen and her dogs. Now that I’ve moved across town, I still walk with her, but I have a commute as well. Is it worth the drive? YES!

I am so grateful that I have a workout partner (three, actually, if you count Buddha and Stella, her dogs). Without my weekly walking escape with Jen, I feel adrift and lonely. So much of exercise and healthy living is habit and social enjoyment. Creating these habits with friends who sincerely want me to live a healthy life is what has kept me on this path instead of giving up altogether.

12/24/2008

Hi, very interesting website…I have been a ww member for 25 years. Lifetime, but I do keep repeating the program. I am looking forward to the momentum, something new…a little challenge, at least or 4 weeks, when you really get to know the program.

my question, are you affiliated or sponsor’d by WW

thanks,Elie

Elie,

No, I do not work for Weight Watchers and they do not sponsor my site. I attend weekly meetings just like a normal person. In fact, I came back from my last meeting of the year yesterday (the Utah WW affiliate closes between Christmas and New Year’s). I lost 1.8 pounds this week. I love to be able to keep losing AND enjoy the holiday.

5/2/2008

I am continually fascinated at how judgmental mothers are. From potty training to discipline to eating, it seems that mothers are eager to judge each other with ferocity. Since I’ve never had children, I don’t find myself judging other women in this manner, so I can watch it from the outside.

If a child is fat, are the parents to blame?

That’s an interesting question. If a child is tall, are the parents to blame? I wonder why we are so willing to blame the parents with one direction of growth and not the other.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

7/8/2007

I’m grieving the loss of footage for a Starling Fitness video. We went to Yellowstone a few months ago and I filmed a lot of walking footage around the Artist’s Paint Pots and Old Faithful. On the Old Faithful Walk, I went uphill and I was panting so hard, I thought it ruined the footage. I talked about it here:

If you watch this video, you can hear some wind noises and some strange squeaks. The wind noises are from the gentle and quiet breeze. Most of the time, there was a normal breeze, which sounded like a thunder barreling down on me. Most of the footage is ruined by the wind noises making popping sounds into the camera. I’ve added a wind screen to my camera to prevent this in the future, but that can’t fix the lost footage in Yellowstone.

What wasn’t ruined by the wind was ruined by a new tool I was trying. It’s VERY difficult to film these walking videos. I have to carry the camera a certain way, allowing my arms to be a cushion so the film isn’t jumpy or bouncy (and making half of you seasick). My arms hurt for days after doing one of these walks.

For my birthday, my wonderful family got me a steady cam that wraps around my neck to take some of the weight. It worked wonderfully and I was able to do several walks in Yellowstone without arm pain. Unfortunately, there are squeaks that were completely imperceptible to me while filming, but show up loud and clear on the video. What wasn’t ruined by wind was damaged by mechanical squeaks.

I could still make a video with warnings that this one isn’t as good as some of the others, but I really go to all the trouble of editing the video for ME. I make these videos because I want to watch them while I’m running on the treadmill. There’s no way in the world that I would watch that video with all the irritating wind pops and steady cam squeaks.

So, I didn’t make the video. The steady cam is relegated to the basement with the other failed mechanical fixes. I have no video in the hopper waiting to be released. I actually have to film something and I have no trips planned for a while.

In the meantime, I’m training. Once a day, I set the treadmill to 3 mph and walk with hand weights. I hold them like I would hold the camera and suffer through the pain in my arms the next day. I’m hoping that by the time I’m able to do more filming, my arms will be strong enough to film several walks without pain and without squeaky steady cams.

7/4/2007

My neighbors across the street are having their annual Independence Day Neighborhood BBQ. Here is a copy of their invitation:

Join us on the Fourth of July around 4-ish or later, and bring something to BBQ or a side to share. Kids & pets welcome, as long as they’re nice! Call us if you have any questions.

I have a couple of questions:

How am I going to go to this BBQ and not eat everything in sight?

If I don’t eat everything in sight, how am I going to stop myself from feeling deprived and binge alone afterward?

It seems like these have been my two choices over the years. I can go to the party and overeat or I can go to the party and not eat anything. Only eating some healthy things hasn’t really worked for me because once I start eating in a social situation I don’t stop.

Sure, there’s the third option of not going to the party, but that just looks like the second option all over again except I didn’t get to see my friends.

“Today’s BBQ is a great opportunity,” I tell myself. “I have a chance to learn how to eat healthy in a social situation.”

That sounds like bullocks to me.

Here’s the plan. I go for option two. I won’t eat anything. I’ll drink Diet Coke and other calorie free drinks, but I’ll avoid all the food. I’ll enjoy the company and talk to friends.

That’s going to make me feel deprived, so I need to have a plan of action when I get home.

A special planned meal for at home after the party is going to be my reward. Sure, it’s just a variation of the bingeing alone option, but if I plan the portions and the food carefully, it will at least be healthy.

Maybe I can’t change my behaviors that have been ingrained in me since childhood, but I certainly can find ways to work around them.

Wish me luck!

If you would like some ideas on how to actually eat at a BBQ and keep it healthy, here are my tips:

4/12/2007

This is my new photo for this year. It has been almost four years since I changed my photograph, so I thought I better do something about it:

I don’t feel like writing today because it’s my birthday. I’m out of town right now. We are going to California to see friends and Disneyland. Wish me luck eating healthy and if posting is spotty over the next couple of weeks, don’t worry. I’m not freaking out, I’m just having fun in the land of sun (even though it’s kind of cloudy today).

By the way, if there are any readers in San Diego that want to meetup, feel free to contact me.

3/28/2007

My biggest fear happened a couple of weeks ago. I was so scared how my feet would look when my toenails finally fell off. I knew it would happen because both of them were hanging on by just a thread for so long. When I finally lost them, I was resigned to it.

If I squint, I can’t tell that I don’t have toenails on my two largest toes. A special thank you to the person who suggested that I just paint the nail bed. It has helped me so much to be able to look down and see what looks like a toenail there. My nails are only half grown back, but they look almost whole.

More importantly, I can run and walk again. I have been building up my mileage. I can do two miles a day and a long walk of four miles once a week. I’ll eventually get back up to where I was before, but for now, I’m working up to it slowly.

In the end, black toenail is painful for a couple of weeks, but it’s ugly for months. I think the worst part was worrying about how it would look. Now that I know that this is the worst it looks, I’m less scared of getting black toenail in the future.